Berlin Convention Highlights for Summer 2017 and Beyond

Jun 18, 2017

In summer, Berlin is a hot destination for meetings in the digital industry as well as for events related to science and medicine. The German capital is the place to be for these important sectors, which account for one-third of the meetings market and bring the largest gatherings to the city.

Heike Mahmoud, Director Conventions, visitBerlin Berlin Convention Office: “Berlin is one of the world’s leading meetings destinations and its image as a creative city attracts both national and international organisations. When it comes to discussions of the latest trends from classical to creative and other high-level international meetings, more and more organisers are choosing Berlin.”

Major conventions in Berlin in the second half of 2017

The SMACC Conference (Social Media and Critical Care) is an innovative, international conference with top-class presentations in TED-Talk style. More than 2,500 participants are expected to discuss hospital-related issues from emergency medicine to anaesthesia and intensive care (27–29 June, Tempodrom, smacc.net.au). TheTech Open Air Festival (TOA) expects more than 200 speakers and 20,000 participants (11–14 July, Funkhaus Berlin, toa.berlin). The interdisciplinary technology festival will feature panels, keynote addresses, “knowshops”, as well as art and music installations in former broadcast studios. Digital events are increasingly coming to Berlin Digital Life Design (DLD) is Europe’s leading international digital and innovation conference (22–24 October, Bolle Event Location, dld-conference.com). And, looking ahead to an event that will cap off the year: the digital conference TechCrunch Disrupt 2017 is moving this December from London to Berlin (4–5 December, Arena Berlin, techcrunch.com/event-info/disrupt-berlin-2017).

The SMACC Conference (Social Media and Critical Care) is an innovative, international conference with top-class presentations in TED-Talk style. More than 2,500 participants are expected to discuss hospital-related issues from emergency medicine to anaesthesia and intensive care (27–29 June, Tempodrom, smacc.net.au). TheTech Open Air Festival (TOA) expects more than 200 speakers and 20,000 participants (11–14 July, Funkhaus Berlin, toa.berlin). The interdisciplinary technology festival will feature panels, keynote addresses, “knowshops”, as well as art and music installations in former broadcast studios. Digital events are increasingly coming to Berlin Digital Life Design (DLD) is Europe’s leading international digital and innovation conference (22–24 October, Bolle Event Location, dld-conference.com). And, looking ahead to an event that will cap off the year: the digital conference TechCrunch Disrupt 2017 is moving this December from London to Berlin (4–5 December, Arena Berlin, techcrunch.com/event-info/disrupt-berlin-2017).

Berlin: the place to be for major medical conferences

Berlin has some major gatherings to look forward to this year. For example, more than 10,000 participants are expected to attend the meeting of the International Society on Thrombosis Research (8–13 July, CityCube Berlin, Messe Berlin, isth2017.org). In October some 12,000 experts from all over the world as well as several high-profile keynote speakers will come to Berlin for the World Congress of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, (8–2 October, Messe Berlin, wpaberlin2017.com). Others are listed in the table.

Extraordinary exhibition and conference topics

Creative people come to Berlin, even if for just a conference: German Comic Con in Berlin expects around 30,000 visitors as well as international stars of the comic strip scene and other authors (30 September–1 October, Messegelände, germancomiccon.com). About 3,500 fans of anime, manga, and Japanese music are registered for the Anime Fair here in Berlin (23–25 June, Kosmos, animemesse.de). The Tattoo Convention brings together well-known tattoo artists from all over the world to show off their mad skills (4–6 August, Arena Berlin, tattoo-convention.de). And when the Mega Manga Convention’s on, Berlin is transformed into the capital of manga fans, with plenty of modern Japanese comic, anime, and cosplay culture around town (27–29 October, Fontanehaus, Märkisches Viertel, mmc-berlin.com). Stage | Set | Scenery Is an international trade fair and convention for theatre, film, and event technology (20–22 June, Messegelände Berlin, stage-set-scenery.de).

Lovers of whiskey of all ages and price classes will turn out for Whiskyherbst 2017(1–2 September, Malzfabrik, whiskeyherbst.de), while fans of shisha, tobacco, and the like will want to hit the Shishamesse (21–22 October, Messe Berlin, shishamesse.de/berlin). The vegan way is becoming increasingly popular and this is behind the Heldenmarkt, the trade fair for sustainable consumption (11–12 November, Station Berlin, heldenmarkt.de/heldenmarkt-berlin). The Paleo Conference is dedicated to the Paleo diet (2–3 September, Spreewerkstätten, paleoconvention.de), while Rohvolution Berlin is an international raw foods fair (30 September–1 October, FEZ Berlin, rohvolution-messe.de).

Number of meetings and events in Berlin on the rise

A look at the most recent statistics for 2016 show that more than 11.5 million people came to Berlin last year to participate in one of approx. 137,500 events (both +2%). 16% of Berlin’s events are held by the ‘medicine, science and research’ industry (up from 12% in 2015); 13% are in the “IT, electronics, communications” field. All meetings and conventions can searched by topic and date on our conventions calendar at convention.visitBerlin.com.